Book Review on Howard Clinebell

Book Review

On

Basic Types of Pastoral Care & Counseling: Resource for The Ministry of Healing &Growth

By

Howard Clinebell printed by Abingdon Press in 1984 (Revised and Enlarged Version)

Student: Chan Thawng Lian

Date: 12/08/2010

Summary of The Topics: The book has 17 chapters with 430 pages. In the first five chapters, the author is engaged with defining the church as a lifesaving station by its ministry of care and counseling. These chapters are the call for pastoral care and counseling to become the powerful force growth and renewal for people with all kinds of crisis by deepening its theological root, by broadening its methodology and by discovering its unique contribution to the helping of troubled humanity. The main focus here is “pastoral care and counseling for wholeness,” wholeness in spirit. The author tries to undergird the urgent need of wholeness from Biblical, theological and human existential reality. He stresses six dimensions of wholeness: 1) enlivening one’s mind, 2) revitalizing one’s body, 3) renewing and enriching one’s intimate relationships, 4) deepening one’s relationship with nature and biosphere, 5) growth in relation to the significant institutions in one’s life, and 6) vitalizing one’s relationship with God. In sum, in these five chapters the author addresses the brokenness of persons and societies that need to be healed or brought to wholeness. Ppastoral care and counseling is unique to that call as it utilizes both its theological heritage and its new methods and tools from other disciplines (like psychology, social science).

Between chapters 6 to 15, the author deals with different types of caring counseling which are performed by a pastoral caregiver and counselor. They are counseling on ethical, meaning and value issues, supportive care and counseling, crisis care and counseling, marriage counseling, family counseling, referral counseling, educative counseling, group care and counseling, and pastoral psychotherapy.  In all these areas, the author points out how the widespread collapse of the old authority centered and institutionally-validated value system has left broken persons and calls for approaching persons with problem in a new and different way (using (no caps)NEW THEORIES AND METHODS). Different needs require different approaches of care and counseling.

The last two chapters frocus on the extension of our care and counseling ministry by training lay people to deal with the troubled people beside them more effectively. The author stresses the need for increasing one’s caring and counseling skills unceasingly. At the same time, he encourages  each pastoral counselor o trust God ? delete. There are times theories do not work, only the power of the Spirit

The primary arguments of the author: The author wrote mainly to ministers in the church, to lay leaders and to students in  seminary. The book is a response to the rising wave of activity in the field of pastoral counseling after WWII within the church and church-related settings. The author argues “It is thrilling to realize that we are in a renaissance period of the church’s aged-old ministry to the burdened. The challenge to each of us is to become a participant or contributor, not just an observer, in this dynamic movement…” He calls for fresh responses to the needs of e troubled people in our modern time. Particularly, pastoral counseling must find a new level of self identity and maturity by deepening its theological root, by broadening its methodology and by discovering its unique contribution to the helping of troubled humanity. The pastoral counselor must have a unique self-understanding of his/her image, role, function and goals and must learn methods and theories from other disciplines. Lay people are not second class Christians; they have caring and counseling ministry too as they are Christians. Thus they need to be trained for the healing and growth of the congregation.

The particular strengths: I like the way the author explains the basic human existential anxiety with quotes from other philosophers and theologians. I am impressed by the biblical study and the fact that this book is written from several research methods: theology, philosophy, psychology, social science, case study. The focus is clear from the beginning. The words and sentences used are easy to understand. Reading suggestion will help serious readers. Bible verses or quotes at the beginning of each section help readers to imagine what is to come next. The focus is directed to church based ministry so the subjects discussed are easy to relate with my ministry.

Limitations of the book: Since this book is written in the context of western culture to western churches and seminaries, some of its theories and methods are hard to apply in immigrant churches. As the book was a response to situations after WW II, it generally laid out the fundamental  need to broaden the field of pastoral care and counseling, its method, and theories, but it lacked the specific theories and methods like we noted in Corey’s work (citation of book titles).

Will you keep this book on your shelf? Yes, I will keep it.

Categories: Theological paper

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